Championing civil liberties is often frustrating because a lot of people don't see the urgency until they're on the receiving end of overbearing enforcers. The process gets easier when advocates of one area of liberty find common cause with supporters of another. Such is the case in Massachusetts, where those concerned about government officials tracking people's movements through their cell phones are joined by activists worried about the privacy of women seeking abortions. The result is legislation that would ban the sale of phone location information—a big step that still might not thwart snoops.
"Every day, unregulated data brokers buy and sell personal location data from apps on our cellphones, revealing where we live, work, play, and more. To protect our privacy, safety, access to abortion and other essential health care, Massachusetts needs to ban this practice now by passing the Location Shield Act," urges the ACLU of Massachusetts. "In the aftermath of the Supreme Court's Dobbs decision, for example, journalists found that data brokers have continued to buy, repackage, and sell the location information of people visiting sensitive locations including abortion clinics. This puts people who seek or provide care in our state at risk of prosecution and harassment, creating a vulnerability in our state's post-Roe protections."
